Eurozone finance ministers meet on Friday to finalise a bailout for Cyprus amid news that the country needs much more money than first thought.

The meeting in Dublin will review how Cyprus can raise its contribution to the bailout being put together by the European Union and IMF.

The cost of the rescue has risen to 23bn euros ($30bn; £19.5bn) from 17.5bn euros, according to Cyprus' creditors.

Meanwhile, Cyprus has loosened the capital controls it imposed last month.

In order to secure 10bn euros from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Cyprus will have to find the remaining 13bn euros, about 6bn euros more than previously thought.

Late on Thursday, a Cypriot government spokesman confirmed that one fundraising option being considered was the sale of some of the country's gold reserves.

"The Cypriot government put various options forward, including this," Christos Stylianides told a news conference.

He blamed the gulf between the original bailout total and the new 23bn figure on the previous administration and the time it took to negotiate a bailout, delays which pushed the cost of recapitalising its banks much higher.

Mr Stylianides accused former President Dimitris Christofias of failing to "take responsibility, and complete indecisiveness" in promptly negotiating a bailout.